Although measures to contain and eradicate it have been taken in several parts of Europe (PACA, Corsica, Apulia, Saxony, Thuringia, etc.), the bacterium has continued to spread across the EU since it was officially detected in October 2013. It has thus been found on the Balearic Islands and there are fears that it will reach the Iberian peninsula. 1. What data does the Commission have on the introduction of Xylella fastidiosa, the infection that it has caused (crops and areas affected), and its spread in Spain? 2. 3.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-001119-17 Xylella fastidiosa in Spain. The bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which has destroyed thousands of olive trees in Italy, has been detected in Spain’s Balearic Islands.

The entire archipelago has now been classified as an infected zone. According to figures released on 7 February 2017, the bacterium was found in 105 of the 565 samples collected, chiefly in olive and almond trees. Even though Xylella fastidiosa poses no risk to humans, it can cause devastation in more than 200 species of plants, including vines, olives and citrus fruit. The Balearic Islands plant health authorities have decided to suspend preventive felling operations that involve destroying all plants around the diseased plant, arguing that this would be an environmental ‘disaster’ for the archipelago.

The effects of the plant disease, which is very difficult to eradicate, can be devastating. It has now been found in four Member States (Italy, France, Germany and Spain). Just like many other plant diseases, Xylella reached the EU via imports from third countries. The spread of such diseases within the EU shows the major weaknesses inherent in import checks. The recent regulation on pest control includes a new monitoring scheme based on the precautionary principle, but delegated and implementing acts are still required in order to ensure it is applied in full. 1. 2.

PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-007863-16 Mesures concernant Xylella fastidiosa — interdiction de circulation des végétaux. The Xylella fastidiosa, bacteria, which has been present in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France and in Corsica since 2015, is the subject of stringent, but necessary measures to limit its spread, including the uprooting of trees, the extermination of carrier insects and a ban on movements of plants that could be contaminated.

Pursuant to Article 9(2) of Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789, plants can only be moved outside the demarcated area if multiple criteria are met and this is generating significant costs for local arboriculturalists. Safeguarding local nurseries is, however, an essential way of limiting the spread of Xylella fastidiosa. — Is the Commission aware of the impact this decision is having on local arboriculturalists and the problems it is causing them? Why did it deem it necessary to review the type-A and type-B exemptions approved by the French Ministry of Agriculture?
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-006329-16 Xylella fastidiosa. PARLEMENT EUROPEEN 13/05/15 PROPOSITION DE RÉSOLUTION déposée à la suite de la question avec demande de réponse orale B8-0117/2015 conformément à l'article 128, paragraphe 5, du règlement sur la crise provoquée par Xylella fastidiosa (2015/2652(RSP))
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN 04/03/15 Proposition de résolution du Parlement européen sur la propagation de la bactérie Xylella, un danger pour la production d'huile d'olive en Italie.

PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-012640-15 Information on the first sources of the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium. PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-010553-15 Xylella fastidiosa. PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-008565-15 Problem of infestation of olive trees in Italy. There have been huge problems in the olive groves of Salento in southern Italy as a result of an infestation of Xylella fastidiosa in the olive trees, which has had devastating effects on future olive production.

The only solution proposed in order to get rid of the infested olive trees, even though it is not an effective solution to the problem as it does not prevent the infestation from spreading, has been to uproot the trees and use questionable products such as the Monsanto product Roundup. However, that particular product may be carcinogenic and it has harmful environmental effects. We need to take account of the fact that intervention in the form of ploughing and pruning and the organic solutions used by farmers may prove effective in preventing the spread of the insect which carries the disease. However, spraying with copper and zinc not only reduces nitrogen levels but also helps the plant to grow, as it makes it resistant to the bacterium.

PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-008329-15 Protection of olive groves and olive cultivation (concerne Xylella fastidiosa)
The bacterium Xylella fastidiosa is an extremely dangerous bacterium that has already caused substantial losses to the olive growing sector in the South of Italy, where a total of 11 million infected trees are to be cut down.

The presence of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa causes serious economic damage not only to olive producers but also to the entire production chain, tourism and marketing activities because olive growing is much more than a branch of agriculture.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-010709-15 Xylella fastidiosa emergency and spread of the bacterium. PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-005702-15 Spread of the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium. In October 2013, the fatal disease caused by the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium spread for the first time to the olive trees of Apulia, in Italy.

Back then, the epidemic had spread over an area of approximately 800 hectares, thus hitting tens of thousands of olive trees. At that time, it became clear that the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium — which had never before been detected in Europe — came from America and Asia.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-005821-15 Ban on the import of plant species in France. France has issued a decree prohibiting the import into French territory of 102 plant species from areas infected with the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa.

The ban relates to intra-European trade from the region of Puglia and to imports from contaminated areas of non-EU countries affected. The designated zone of infection is confined to the Province of Lecce, it does not cover the entire region of Puglia, and restrictions are already in place concerning the transfer of plant materials from this infected area, in line with Community Directive 2000/29.

Considering that on 27 and 28 April, the Standing Committee on Plant Health will meet to decide on new measures for implementation at Community level, and also given that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is due to provide a new assessment of the situation very soon, does the Commission consider this unilateral decision from France, which risks exacerbating the problem further, to be legitimate?
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-004320-15 Bactérie Xylella fastidiosa.

PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-008997-14 Xylella emergency in Puglia. According to the results of tests carried out by scientists, the infection (xylella fastidiosa) which is drying out olive trees in nurseries in Puglia — the Salento area in particular — is likely to spread dangerously beyond Puglia and to infect many other plant species, both cultivated and wild.

The severity of the problem is causing great alarm among farms throughout the country and is likely to exacerbate the already devastating economic crisis in the agricultural sector. Stricter monitoring therefore needs to be carried out on the presence of the infection in nurseries in Puglia and products at risk need to be tightly controlled.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-012187-13 Olive tree disease in Puglia. Initially only sporadic and imperceptible, in recent months a very serious, extensive and deadly plant disease has been spreading among olive trees in Puglia and in particular in the province of Lecce. The epidemic, which causes the trees to dry out, has spread across an area of around 8000 hectares, affecting tens of thousands of olive trees. Following investigations and tests carried out by all the offices and institutions responsible, incontrovertible evidence has emerged that the infection comes from a bacterium called ‘Xylella fastidiosa’, a particularly dangerous agent that has never been identified in Europe but which, in America and Asia, has caused disease in various species of plants, including vines and citrus trees, resulting in substantial losses to the agricultural sector and the economy.

PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-012314-13 Measures to contain bacterium infecting olive trees. Around 8000 hectares of olive groves in the Salento area of Puglia have been infected by the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, possibly necessitating the uprooting of between 500 000 and 600 000 olive trees, many of them centuries old. The bacterium causes foliage to dry out and wood to darken, eventually killing the infected plant.

The disease, which is believed to be carried by the leafhopper (Cicadellidae), has not yet been propagated further afield and still less affected olive trees in the rest of Europe. However, it is spreading very rapidly, posing an economic and environmental threat to an entire region where olive production is the staple agricultural activity and centuries-old olive trees form an inestimably valuable part of the landscape and natural heritage.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-012313-13 Emergency in the Salento area caused by the appearance of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. The first appearance in Europe of a quarantine plant pathogen which attacks olive trees has been reported in Italy. The bacterium (scientific name: Xylella fastidiosa) is transmitted to plants by an insect that has yet to be identified.

To date, olive groves covering 8000 hectares in the area between Gallipoli and Ugento in the Salento region have been identified as under threat, and 600 000 trees are to be destroyed in response.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-010604-14 Alert regarding the risk of a phytosanitary disaster in the EU olive industry. The presence of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa has been detected in the Italian region of Apulia, constituting the first significant infection in the EU and its olive groves. European olive groves are under serious threat as a result of this infection, a threat which is aggravated by the recent detection of the same bacterium in decorative coffee plants imported into the Netherlands. It is vital that the Commission understands the severity of the problem and the urgent need to take action before the damage becomes irreparable. Otherwise, this bacterium could destroy Europe’s olive groves. Given the severity of the risk, the truly effective solution is to simply close the EU borders to plant material that could be infected.

PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à Question P-009840-14 Xylella Fastidiosa, maladie végétale épidémique. PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-001694-15 Spread of Xylella fastidiosa and measures against it. The EFSA has carried out a phytosanitary risk assessment, and evaluated possible ways of mitigating the risk posed by Xylella fastidiosa bacteria, which have struck several thousand hectares of olive groves in Apulia, southern Italy. Hundreds of thousands of olive plants are affected. There is potential for transmission of the bacteria to other plant species.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question E-002396-15 The Xylella fastidiosa crisis. PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-004382-15 Emergency measures on Xylella. The Commission Implementing Decision of 23 July 2014 as regards measures to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the Union of Xylella fastidiosa calls on Member States to take into account International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No 9 (guidelines for pest eradication programmes) and to apply an integrated approach to their measures in accordance with the principles set out in ISPM No 14.

Section 4.3.2.1 of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific opinion on the risk of infestation and the assessment of risk reduction in Salento highlights the fact that the large area of infestation, the prevalence of host plants and the significant number of asymptomatic host plants further contributes to making eradication unfeasible. According to an audit conducted by DG Sanco after April 2014 on 1 011 samples, there was no data on Xylella-positive trees.
PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - Réponse à question P-004490-15 Xylella fastidiosa crisis.